Semillon: the forgotten grape

When I first started to write about wine in the 1980s, I remember drinking a Kalin semillon from California like it was yesterday. Semillon is rarely made without a companion grape, such as sauvignon blanc. Many vintners find it one-dimensional and lacking acidity. However, in a blend it can often the natural acidity of sauvignon blanc.

The other day I enjoyed a semillon from Tyrrell’s Wines, an Australian producer in the Hunter Valley. Australia is actually one of the few wine growing regions that produce a number of semillons. The Tyrrell was very simple, but revealed that lush character for which the grape is known.

If you are in the mood, semillon is worth an adventure.

I Ott not be surprised

There it was on the shelf standing by itself on the last day of a sale: Domaines Ott Clos Mireille Blanc de Blanc Cotes de Provence. Why didn’t anyone want it? Was it calling for me?

It’s not hard for any bottles of Domaines Ott to stand out. It’s oddly shaped bottle has nothing else to compare. I’ve marveled at this producer for its outstanding rose, but I never had its white. I had to try it even though a single bottle of any wine usually portends bad things to come.

I just wish there had been more of this wine.

Made from semillon — a variety more common in Bordeaux — and a little rolle, the wine was so exotic with generous stone fruit aromas, and fresh fruit character. Ripe passion fruit and peach flavors lingered on the palate. By aging it in large wood casks, the patina suggests an aged wine. It was a 2016 I tasted but it’s a wine that would improve in several more years.

Now, I’m on the hunt for more of it.

Note to self: just because there is only one bottle left on a shelf doesn’t mean it’s a lousy wine. It’s just that someone overlooked it.